PRESIDENT DETAILS SEQUESTER IMPACT

California would feel sharp bite if cuts are not prevented

Republicans have rejected the idea of increasing taxes on Americans after more than $600 billion in hikes were approved in January. And on Sunday, some accused the administration of exaggerating the danger of allowing the cuts to begin.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said the Obama administration could manage the cuts — only a small fraction of the federal budget — without them interfering too much with people’s lives.

“There are easy ways to cut this money that the American people will never feel,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Republican congressional aides noted that the House last year passed bills to replace the sequester with other, less-indiscriminate cuts. “The White House needs to spend less time explaining to the press how bad the sequester will be and more time actually working to stop it,” said Michael Steel, a Boehner spokesman.

While there’s little hope of avoiding the sequester this week, there will be plenty of political maneuvering.

Both sides, however, have acknowledged that neither has a plan designed to win passage and is instead meant to frame the debate in the coming weeks over how they want their rank and file to defend their position back home.

Congress is rapidly shifting focus to a new deadline that will serve as the last stand on the sequester: March 27. That is when the stopgap bill for federal funding expires — and without a new one, the government will shut down.